Gasoline engine upgrades - open air intake could be something to consider, however I'm generally against it due to mixed reviews on the non-paper filters' filtering abilities. However, an air intake that is significantly larger than the original one, should be a fantastic upgrade methinks, so would be some ECU remapping of the ICE engine and as you say - a performance exhaust system... possibly with sport catalytic converter!

Is there any point in tuning the petrol engine in a PHEV? At speeds below about 50mph, the transmission can only be electric and the power put down on the ground will be limited by the electrical system irrespective of what the engine can output. The engine can couple mechanically to the wheels above about 50mph, but only via a single speed gearbox - not a lot of scope to make controlled use of any extra power you manage to wring out of it.

Sure - extermist tuning is out of scope here as being pointless but, these mild mods to the engine can make power output come quicker in serial mode and also, in parallel mode it will have even more obvious benefits. But I agree that the benefits of the engine's tuning is obviously limited as compared to a conventional ICE car, but still far from useless.

Also a very effective upgrade would be raising the battery-powered-only 60kW power limit to 70 kW. This - if possible - would obviously hurt the batteries, as they are being pushed to their limits even in factory setup. But, with a higher capacity battery pack it would be possible and very beneficial to the car's quickness.

Last edited by mrqz on Fri Feb 09, 2018 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Also a very effective upgrade would be to raising the battery-powered-only 60kW power limit to 70 kW. This - if possible - would obviously hurt the batteries, as they are being pushed to their limits even in factory setup. But, with a higher capacity battery pack it would be possible and very beneficial to the car's quickness.

You don't need more capacity, you need a higher discharge rate which is technically more problematic than just adding capacity.You probably also need to improve the cabling and power transmission electronics.

Having said that, somewhere towards the end of my PHEVs life I look forward to messing around to try fully utilising both 60kW motors - why should Tesla owners get all the fun with "ludicrous mode"

Also a very effective upgrade would be to raising the battery-powered-only 60kW power limit to 70 kW. This - if possible - would obviously hurt the batteries, as they are being pushed to their limits even in factory setup. But, with a higher capacity battery pack it would be possible and very beneficial to the car's quickness.

Rise 60kw limit to any limit up to 110kw .. it is possible .. and it has been done already

The consequence of changing this, it is a long story ....

Unfortunately as far as I know, only 1 person manage to do it, and he did share only a video on youtube and some comments on this forum ... but he did not release such type of product, even if he did experiment on it over 1 year ago, and even if he has a company selling "tuning boxes" for different cars, including our PHEV.

You don't need more capacity, you need a higher discharge rate which is technically more problematic than just adding capacity.You probably also need to improve the cabling and power transmission electronics.

Yes, that's correct, my mistake, higher capacity won't help in raising peak discharge current. However, when replacing the cells - one can select 30A discharge IMR 18650 (or, rather 26650) cells, and voila, peak discharge current goes up to 300A (~90 kW of power).I guess the dude we're referring to, allegedly having upgraded the PHEV's EV-only output to 70 kW, has achieved it this way - he has replaced all the OE LEV40 cells to new 18650's each capable of providing ~25A max current (leading to the pack's peak output of 75 kW)

As for the cabling, the question is for what ampere the cables are rated for -- if it's only 200 amps then upgrading is a must, if more, eg. 250A, then it will be sufficient for the 70 kW. The electronics - good point, but I doubt their rating is limited to 60 kW and most probably some future upgraders will find it out... The sooner the better.

Also a very effective upgrade would be to raising the battery-powered-only 60kW power limit to 70 kW. This - if possible - would obviously hurt the batteries, as they are being pushed to their limits even in factory setup. But, with a higher capacity battery pack it would be possible and very beneficial to the car's quickness.

Rise 60kw limit to any limit up to 110kw .. it is possible .. and it has been done already

The consequence of changing this, it is a long story ....

Unfortunately as far as I know, only 1 person manage to do it, and he did share only a video on youtube and some comments on this forum ... but he did not release such type of product, even if he did experiment on it over 1 year ago, and even if he has a company selling "tuning boxes" for different cars, including our PHEV.

110 kW is new info to me.. thanks for that. Why he's not promoting a finished product already... might be that some quality and strong new cells must be acquired first and get shipped to the workshop in PL, then get your core battery pack shipped to him, get the cells replaced by the new ones, have it shipped back (think of a ~200 kg shipment)... On top of that, pay the labour, incl. the PHEV ECU upgrade... oh well, the price should be somewhere at a brand new PHEV or, at least a half.

I absolutely don't know about fibres, but a study on a Dutch university has shown that the amount of extra energy involved in producing an aluminium hood compared to a steel one can never be recovered during the lifetime of a car.

I absolutely don't know about fibres, but a study on a Dutch university has shown that the amount of extra energy involved in producing an aluminium hood compared to a steel one can never be recovered during the lifetime of a car.

Can be, but aluminium hoods also contribute to better weight distribution and better handling/cornering abilities of a car. Saab used it as standard on thee 9-3 models (and the boot door too, for that matter) and they meant a lot. (The hood cost twice as compared to a steel one, at least I heard it so.) But it all depends on how much weight is saved. If you can save 15kgs on a hood by upgrading it to another material, that means a lot, if you replace the battery to a lifepo4 one, it again saves you some 12-14 kgs. These do count. That being said, I wouldn't have the guts to replace the PHEV's aux. battery to a LiFePo4 one.... Not just because it's in the rear (so weight saving is not that accentuated), but due the fact that it is a part of a more complex system and controlled by such electronics.

Last edited by mrqz on Sat Feb 10, 2018 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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